AMD Officially Split into Two Companies

Yesterday we already reported about it, yet later in the afternoon by conference call it was confirmed. AMD announces they are splitting into two separate companies in an effort to keep pace with rival Intel, separating their chip design efforts from their chip manufacturing side.

According to a report on The New York Times this is being done with the help of between $6.0 billion and $8.5 billion in investments from two Abu Dhabi firms, one of which is an entity formed by the Abu Dhabi government. This will result in a significant upgrade to AMD's Dresden chip manufacturing facility as well as a new chip factory near Albany, NY for the manufacturing side, which will be temporarily called The Foundry Company.

The transaction is expected to close early next year, pending approval by shareholders, regulators and officials in New York and Germany. AMD has in the past emphasized the importance of owning their own fabrication process, but according to the report, this deal is structured with this in mind: "Under the deal proposed by A.M.D., the company would retain many of the traditional benefits of fabs, since part of Foundry will be dedicated to serving A.M.D. and will remain in close communication with the company's engineers."